Archive | Profiles

Bainbridge Island Public Defender Thomas Alpaugh was just awarded the 2015 Kitsap County Bar Association’s Professionalism Award. The award is given “in recognition of sustained excellence in the practice of law” for, as City Manager Doug Schulze put it, “his dedication and hard work, representing indigent people charged with misdemeanor crimes.” Members of KCBA, Alpaugh’s…

Marriner Craig Merrill died peacefully at Wyatt House on January 28 from cancer. The 79-year-old and 40-year Island resident is survived by his wife Helen and daughters Jennifer Merrill of Bainbridge Island and Laura Merrill of Bethesda, Maryland. Merrill was a banker who switched careers in his 30s to college administration. He also served as director of the Bainbridge…

Bainbridge Islander Pj LeDorze became a media darling with one inspired act—pulling off his Richard Sherman Seahawks jersey and handing it to a boy next to him at the end of the dramatic playoff game against the Green Bay Packers. It’s a story you’ve probably heard parts of, but here’s more—much. LeDorze’s act of kindness was…

Katie Vreedenburgh wants to show you the world. First she needs your vote to be chosen as the cohost of Global Degree, a web series featuring visits to the 195 countries of the United Nations. The web show, recently picked up by the Discovery Channel, is set to begin its second season and looking for…

Katherine E. Dunn, known to most as Kathy Dunn, died on December 22 at 6:25 p.m. surrounded by family and friends at Harborview Hospital in Seattle. Dunn, 71, never regained consciousness after being run over by a car on December 19 while walking with her grandchildren in the parking lot of her condominium complex. A…

[Updated at 2:14 p.m., December 21, 2014] Family members of Kathy Dunn, critically injured Friday, are asking for community thoughts and prayers for the woman known and loved by so many. Kathy’s son David Dunn reported this morning that she has not regained consciousness since being run over by a car in the parking lot of…

It took Chris Whited a little more time than he expected to complete his labor of love, the charming architectural wonder dubbed by some The Hobbit House. Many of us have observed Whited’s unusual project take shape on High School Road in surprising ways since he began work on the house in May of 2011….

Jonathan Allen Manheim, who passed away September 9, was an East Coaster who found home to the west, on Bainbridge. He was born in 1950 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, to Jack and Selma Manheim. He grew up in and around that area and lived for several years in New York City. After graduating from Summit High…

Amanda Sageser says it’s good she’s young and has a lot of energy. The reason it’s good is that the hours she maintains might make even a second-year medical resident feel sleepy. Sageser, who is starting her second year in the job at Bainbridge High School, works the regular school day—she teaches Freshman Health, Introduction…

Tomorrow evening, August 25, Jim Whiting is ending his 20-year run as the coach/manager of the popular summer All-Comers track meet series. Whiting started the free weekly meets in 1995 shortly after moving to Bainbridge Island as a way to give back to the community and connect with other runners. But with the first meet, which…

Even the most active participants of the Facebook forum Bainbridge Islanders don’t have the dedication to monitor every comment of every thread of the buzzing nearly 3,000-member conversation. But as the group’s administrative lead moderator, Christina Albrecht Tinling, sees it all—the good, the bad, the ugly, and just about every nuance in between. Tinling joined the…

Lice Girls co-owner Sarah Frost estimates, based on Center for Disease Control (CDC) national data and a seasonal increase, that about 680 people on Bainbridge Island currently have lice. Frost also notes that the average case of lice lasts—yikes—3 to 6 months. Lice Are Not Nice, But Lice Girls Are The last thing Sarah Frost and…

Bainbridge High School (BHS) graduate Caitlin Boone has been honored as the Outstanding Graduate of the Engineering Technology Department of Western Washington University. Faculty members from each academic departments select one graduate to honor as the Outstanding Graduate of the year. Selection is a high honor based on grades, research and writing, service to the campus…

Four long-time BIPD employees—Lieutenant Phil Hawkins, Lieutenant Chris Jensen, Officer Steve Cain, and Senior Police Clerk Ted Rought—are turning in their uniforms (three of them within about 30 days of one another) and moving on to other things, leaving the BIPD short-handed at a time of increased police participation in community events designed to regain public confidence….

Four long-time BIPD employees—Lieutenant Phil Hawkins, Lieutenant Chris Jensen, Officer Steve Cain, and Senior Police Clerk Ted Rought—are turning in their uniforms (three of them within about 30 days of one another) and moving on to other things, leaving the BIPD short-handed at a time of increased police participation in community events designed to regain…

Darren and Lynn Smith had been living on Bainbridge Island with their baby Meghan for a little over a year when they heard the words every loving parent fears most: Your child has leukemia. The day 15-month-old Meghan was diagnosed, the family of three was instructed to go directly to Seattle Children’s Hospital, where Meghan…

There is no single impetus for a series of Bainbridge Island Police Department retirements that is hitting the department at the same time that two staff members are recovering from on-the-job injuries and one is on maternity leave. But four long-time BIPD employees—Lieutenant Phil Hawkins, Lieutenant Chris Jensen, Officer Steve Cain, and Senior Police Clerk…

After over 40 years, Janice Danielson, Manager of Bainbridge Self Storage and U-Haul, still has nightmares every night about the time she spent incarcerated in an Indian “residential school” as a child. She says in her dreams she is always trying to get out and get home, but she can’t. Danielson, who now works on…

Pete Saloutos is a busy guy, and he likes it that way. He doesn’t sleep much, getting up at 3 a.m. when the rest of us are turning over for the second half of a night’s rest. He loves his work, submitting 200-300 images to photo agencies a day—yes, a day. And he thrives on…

Aaron Bludorn, who graduated from BHS in 2002, just achieved what in the food world is the equivalent of being named a department head at an Ivy League school: He is the new Executive Chef at a Michelin-starred restaurant, New York City’s elite and très bon Café Boulud, which Michelin says “seldom disappoints.” That’s Michelingo…